KAROLINA PLISKOVA: Yeah, most of the time I’m bad at betting (laughs). The Russian has won all six of their previous matches and has never lost before the third round in NY. She received a wild card into the U.S Open and will face Halep in Monday’s night session. She does not beat you with sheer power, but she tries to topple her opponent with her court craft, which was great to see during her semi-final run at Wimbledon this year.
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The dark horse for me though could be Madison Keys; the young American has been fighting her way back from injury this season and has performed well on the hardcourts over the last few weeks with a victory in Stanford, which included a win over Muguruza in the semifinals.
Sharapova, a tall and lean blonde Russian who’s a five-time Grand Slam victor, has earned an estimated $285 million in prize money and modeling endorsements since 2001….from companies like American Express, Nike, and Canon. After the semifinals reached in Stuttgart, she moved to Madrid to defend her title from the previous year.
Muguruza had noted earlier, however, “What I think of her, I think she’s a fighter, you know, great attitude, big fight, spirit in the court”.
Nadal won his record 10th French Open trophy in June, and Federer won his record eighth Wimbledon title in July.
But Nadal referenced championship matches against Novak Djokovic with long rallies and only having 25 seconds to recover from that would be hard. It’s obviously a weakened field on the men’s side, but that’s a good thing for guys like Andy Murray, Roger Federer, and Nadal. However, this ended with a heartbreaking loss for Halep, who surrendered to underdog Jelena Ostapenko in the final. And she could even withdraw as she has from her summer events.
She is 6-0 against Halep, including a win in the 2014 French Open final. She had a tough draw in Washington as she had to face Sloane Stephens in the first round.
A similar pattern happened at the Western and Southern Open the following week.
Johanna Konta, who is seeded seventh, starts her bid against Aleksandra Krunic.
Halep could face another contender for No1, No6 seed Johanna Konta, in the quarters, though the in-form Julia Goerges may have other ideas, and No11 seed Dominika Cibulkova, has just become runner-up in CT.
Given her lack of action, an opening test against Halep is not ideal.
Elina Svitolina is enjoying a breakthrough year with five titles to her name but can she bring that same form to a Grand Slam? She really played so great at Wimbledon, such attractive tennis, and I thought maybe she would carry that over to the hard-court season. She also reached the quarters at Wimbledon, and has the kind of attacking game to upset anyone on her day.
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The Romanian, often feverish in the great opportunities, is to NY its first title in Grand Slam and the place of N. 1 world, as seven other players. The Czech player made the final of the US Open in 2016 with gutsy wins over Venus and Serena Williams and then followed that up with the most consistent 12 months on the tour that saw her clinch the World No 1 ranking.
